Chasen Gaver
A possible event in 1981 – based on a review by Michael Kreigsman, Washington, Post.
An Evening of Poetry and Dance II (1979)Performance Poet:
An Evening of Poetry and Dance I – Baby It’s About Time! (Friday, Oct 27, and Saturday Oct 28, 1978)
“Performance poetry springs from the mind of Chasen Gaver, a 24-year old Wasington poet who, along with others of similar persuasion, is adding an important dimension to the style and sound of American poetry. Gaver, along with other artists uses what performance can provide – sounds, rhythms, props, costumes- to create an experience of poetry that the written word itself cannot achieve. In a sense, it is the performance that is the poem here, and the written word is the main scaffold of that experience.” John M. Yanson, Blade (Gay Newspaper).
Chasen was a brilliant performance poet and a rapper in style. His work addresses sexual/gender and social issues with cynicism and daring.
Chasen Gaver (1953-1989) wrote poetry, novels, essays, plays, and short stories. He started a chapter for the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.) while in college. After graduating from The College of Wooster in Ohio, he worked in Washington, DC as a per diem paralegal at the Federal Trade Commission. He described himself as a performance poet, and much of his work focused on relationships and issues of identity; he was homosexual. In 1978 he won a grant from the District of Columbia’s Commission on Arts and Humanities; he was one of the first openly gay artists to win this grant. He won even larger grants in 1981, 1986, and 1987 and went on to write book reviews for The Washington Blade. Gaver was also a part of the Black Artists/White Artists artist collective as well as Young Audiences, a performing arts program specifically for inner-city children. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, and wrote about his experience until his death in 1989. Some of his works of poetry included “Daddy!” “Summer Beach Talks,” and “From Now Til Doomsday.” Some of Gaver’s works were also published in the audio publication Black Box, and he performed at the Joaquin Miller Cabin reading series. Some of his work is included in the Miller Cabin anthology Whose Words These Are.
Gaver died of complications due to AIDS in Washington, D.C. in March 1989.
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM07575.html DC Writers’ Homes: http://dcwriters.poetrymutual.org/pages/gaver.html
Information at Cornell.edu archive:
Charles (Chasen) Gaver, the eldest of three children, was born in 1953 in Wooster, Ohio to Richard and Helen Gaver. After taking a B.A. from The College of Wooster in Ohio, Gaver worked as a per diem paralegal at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.
Gaver identified himself foremost as a “performance poet.” In 1978 he received one of the first grants awarded to an openly gay artist dealing with gay subject matter from the District of Columbia’s Commission on Arts and Humanities. Gaver was also the recipient of larger grants in 1981, 1986, and 1987, which enabled him to collaborate with colleagues as well as to document his performances using photographs and video/audio cassettes. In 1977 Gaver began writing sporadically for The Washington Blade ; ten years later his book reviews would become a regular feature. In addition, Gaver wrote novels, essays, plays, poems and short stories, many of which were loosely autobiographical. Gaver’s interest in human relationships and his identity as a gay man were common themes in his work.
Although Gaver spent most of his later life in the D.C. area, he made several trips abroad, notably one to Morocco in 1982 where he was introduced to the ex-patriot writer Paul Bowles. Correspondence between Gaver and Bowles dates from 1982-1987.
Gaver was also involved in two organizations; the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.) for which he started a chapter while attending The College of Wooster, and the Washington D.C.-based artists collective Black Artists/White Artists. He also participated in Young Audiences, a performing arts program for inner city children.
In 1987 Gaver was diagnosed with AIDS and began extensively documenting his life with the illness in “Fever Journal,” a narrative account including clippings and correspondence from October 1987-June 1988, and the medical notebooks, dated 4/17/87 – 1/31/89 and 2/2/89 – 3/10/89 which listed Gaver’s daily food and drug intake as well as his temperature and diminishing body weight. Gaver died of complications due to AIDS in Washington, D.C. in March 1989.